If you or someone you love has ever been hospitalized for surgery, Mayday! A Physician as Patient is a book you will want to read. Imagine an actual doctor being admitted for major - and very dangerous - surgeries followed by a long period of recovery, often touch and go, and you have the makings of a fascinating and intimate journal-style look at the emotional, spiritual and physical road from illness to health.

Allan Lohaus was admitted to the hospital and operated on by people he himself knew, and with procedures he himself was often familiar with. But the fears and anxieties, the down days and up days that he shares with us in this personal journal really resonate and touch the heart. For a doctor to become a patient is a turning of tables that we can appreciate and learn from.

I read this book as my own son came out of the hospital for major surgery, and I could really feel the emotions that Dr. Lohaus was going through, especially his concerns and worries about his future. Part inside look at the medical industry, part memoir, this book is unique in that it allows us to take a journey with someone who is going through hell and coming back around to the light again, and it does so from a position of professional expertise that gives us even more insight into the day to day lives of patients who put their well-being in the hands of others.

Mayday! is a short book, but it packs a lot of emotion and depth, moving both gently and coarsely over a variety of topics that any patient, or physician, can learn from and take to heart.